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 "title": "Padrauna Mound",
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 "excerpt": "Padrauna Mound: ASI centrally protected mound (no. 3457) south of Padrauna town, Kushinagar district, Uttar Pradesh; brick-ruin mound 220x120x14 ft, protected 1920, excavated 1984-85; identified with ancient Pava/Pavapuri of the Mallas.",
 "snippet": "Padrauna Mound: ASI centrally protected mound (no. 3457) south of Padrauna town, Kushinagar district, Uttar Pradesh; brick-ruin mound 220x120x14 ft, protected 1920, excavated 1984-85; identified with ancient Pava/Pavapuri of the Mallas.",
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 "markdown": "# Padrauna Mound\n\n**Padrauna Mound** is a large archaeological mound south of the town of Padrauna in [Kushinagar](https://www.edgepedia.org/kushinagar) district, [Uttar Pradesh](https://www.edgepedia.org/uttar-pradesh), India, protected as a monument of national importance (ASI serial no. 3457) and described in the [Archaeological Survey of India](https://www.edgepedia.org/archaeological-survey-of-india)'s register as a \"large mound covered with broken bricks and a few statues\".<sup>[1](https://www.nma.gov.in/showfile.php?lang=1&level=0&lid=15&ls_id=21)</sup> The site is associated with ancient Pava (also Pavapuri), a town of the Malla people remembered in Buddhist and Jain tradition as the place of the Buddha's last meal and, in Jain tradition, of Mahavira's death.<sup>[2](https://nmma.nic.in/nmma/NAS1/nmma_doc/IAR/Indian%20Archaeology%201984-85%20A%20Review.pdf)</sup>\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Official description | \"Large mound covered with broken bricks and a few statues\", locality Padrauna, district Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh<sup>[1](https://www.nma.gov.in/showfile.php?lang=1&level=0&lid=15&ls_id=21)</sup> |\n| Recorded dimensions | 220 ft long, 120 ft broad, 14 ft high, south of Padrauna<sup>[3](https://asisarnathcircle.in/monuments.php)</sup> |\n| Protection | Protected in 1920; preliminary notification UP 1465/1133-M of 25 November 1920, final notification UP 1669/1133-M of 27 December 1920<sup>[3](https://asisarnathcircle.in/monuments.php)</sup> |\n| ASI administration | Sarnath Circle, Central protection<sup>[1](https://www.nma.gov.in/showfile.php?lang=1&level=0&lid=15&ls_id=21)</sup> |\n| Excavation | 1984-85, ASI Mid-eastern Circle under Arun Kumar; fourteen 5 x 5 m quadrants opened<sup>[2](https://nmma.nic.in/nmma/NAS1/nmma_doc/IAR/Indian%20Archaeology%201984-85%20A%20Review.pdf)</sup> |\n| Excavated dimensions | About 100 m east-west and 60 m north-south, rising about 4 m above the surrounding fields<sup>[2](https://nmma.nic.in/nmma/NAS1/nmma_doc/IAR/Indian%20Archaeology%201984-85%20A%20Review.pdf)</sup> |\n| Traditional identification | Ancient Pava (Pavapuri), capital of the northern Malla country<sup>[4](https://ignca.gov.in/Asi_data/74144.pdf)</sup> |\n\n## Location and description\n\nThe mound stands to the south of Padrauna, a tehsil headquarters that the 1920 protection notification placed 49 miles north-northeast of [Gorakhpur](https://www.edgepedia.org/gorakhpur).<sup>[5](https://www.nma.gov.in/showfile.php?lang=1&level=2&lid=1573&ls_id=1293&nma_type=0)</sup> The notification of that year describes it as a large mound covered with broken bricks and a few statues, measuring 220 feet by 120 feet and 14 feet high.<sup>[3](https://asisarnathcircle.in/monuments.php)</sup> Brick debris and sculpture on the surface are the features that marked it out to early surveyors as the remains of an ancient settlement rather than a natural rise.<sup>[1](https://www.nma.gov.in/showfile.php?lang=1&level=0&lid=15&ls_id=21)</sup>\n\nThe mound belongs to a dense cluster of protected sites in the same district. The ASI's Sarnath Circle list records, in the same 1920 notification batch, a large dih or mound near Fazilnagar measuring 1,900 by 900 feet, the flat-topped mound of Jharmatiya, the brick-ruin mound of Asmanpurdih, and mounds at Chhetiaon and Sahiya, all in Kushinagar district.<sup>[3](https://asisarnathcircle.in/monuments.php)</sup>\n\n## Early recording\n\nAlexander Cunningham, the first head of the Archaeological Survey of India, gave a brief account of the large mound at Padrauna in the first volume of his reports covering 1862 to 1865.<sup>[4](https://ignca.gov.in/Asi_data/74144.pdf)</sup> Later writers urged that the area around Padrauna be thoroughly explored and that the big mound at the site be excavated.<sup>[4](https://ignca.gov.in/Asi_data/74144.pdf)</sup> A survey of the region in 1963-64 by the University of Gorakhpur under R. B. Singh recorded ancient sites in the Padrauna tehsil of the then Deoria district, finding black-and-red ware and other early pottery in the surrounding districts.<sup>[6](https://nmma.nic.in/nmma/NAS1/nmma_doc/IAR/Indian%20Archaeology%201963-64%20A%20Review.pdf)</sup>\n\n## The 1984-85 excavation\n\nThe mound was excavated in 1984-85 by the Survey's Mid-eastern Circle under Arun Kumar, who worked on the identification of Padrauna as ancient Pavapuri, the place where the Jain Tirthankara Mahavira attained his Mahaparinirvana.<sup>[2](https://nmma.nic.in/nmma/NAS1/nmma_doc/IAR/Indian%20Archaeology%201984-85%20A%20Review.pdf)</sup> The mound as then measured ran about 100 meters east-west and 60 meters north-south and rose about 4 meters above the surrounding field level; its configuration and earlier reports suggested a stupa on the western side and ancillary buildings such as a vihara on the eastern part.<sup>[2](https://nmma.nic.in/nmma/NAS1/nmma_doc/IAR/Indian%20Archaeology%201984-85%20A%20Review.pdf)</sup> Fourteen quadrants of 5 by 5 meters were opened. The excavation belied these expectations regarding the site's identification: on the evidence of the controlled dig, the site came into existence only in the later half of the historical period.<sup>[2](https://nmma.nic.in/nmma/NAS1/nmma_doc/IAR/Indian%20Archaeology%201984-85%20A%20Review.pdf)</sup>\n\nThe published dimensions differ between records: the 1920 notification gives 220 by 120 by 14 feet (about 67 by 37 by 4.3 meters), while the excavation report gives about 100 by 60 by 4 meters.<sup>[3](https://asisarnathcircle.in/monuments.php)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://nmma.nic.in/nmma/NAS1/nmma_doc/IAR/Indian%20Archaeology%201984-85%20A%20Review.pdf)</sup> Both describe the same protected mound south of Padrauna.\n\n## Identification with ancient Pava\n\nBuddhist tradition places Pava, where Cunda Kammaraputta hosted the Buddha for what became his last meal before his death at Kushinagar, in the Malla country near Kusinagara; a guide to Sarnath lists Pava (Padrauna, 13 miles northwest of Kushinagar) among the eight sites at which portions of the Buddha's cremated remains were enshrined in stupas.<sup>[7](https://ignca.gov.in/Asi_data/30296.pdf)</sup> An on-the-spot study of Padrauna and its surroundings led scholars to confirm Cunningham's identification of Pava, capital of the northern Malla country, with Padrauna (ancient Padaravana); the finds from the site include stone sculptures, bricks, and pottery, with Jaina, Buddhist, and Brahmanical remains generally of the early medieval period, and one stone sculpture assignable to the [Sunga period](https://www.edgepedia.org/shunga-empire) now preserved in the State Museum, Lucknow.<sup>[4](https://ignca.gov.in/Asi_data/74144.pdf)</sup> The 1984-85 excavation, however, found the mound itself to be later than these identifications would imply, dating its occupation to the later half of the historical period.<sup>[2](https://nmma.nic.in/nmma/NAS1/nmma_doc/IAR/Indian%20Archaeology%201984-85%20A%20Review.pdf)</sup>\n\n## Padrauna in the historical record\n\nPadrauna gave its name to the surrounding district: Kushinagar district was created on 13 May 1994 from the northeastern portion of Deoria district under the name Padrauna, and was renamed Kushinagar in 1997.<sup>[8](https://kushinagar.nic.in/history/)</sup> Local history records that Padrauna is believed to have been ruled over by a Rajput adventurer, Madan Singh, in the 15th century CE.<sup>[8](https://kushinagar.nic.in/history/)</sup> The mound remains one of the centrally protected monuments maintained by the ASI's Sarnath Circle, established in its present form on 2 September 2013.<sup>[3](https://asisarnathcircle.in/monuments.php)</sup>\n\n## References\n\n1. [List of Centrally Protected Monuments (ASI), National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities](https://www.nma.gov.in/showfile.php?lang=1&level=0&lid=15&ls_id=21)\n2. [Indian Archaeology 1984-85 - A Review, Archaeological Survey of India](https://nmma.nic.in/nmma/NAS1/nmma_doc/IAR/Indian%20Archaeology%201984-85%20A%20Review.pdf)\n3. [List of Centrally Protected Monuments / Sites (Uttar Pradesh), ASI Sarnath Circle](https://asisarnathcircle.in/monuments.php)\n4. [Location of Pava, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (Puratattva No. 16)](https://ignca.gov.in/Asi_data/74144.pdf)\n5. [United Provinces Gazette, Extraordinary, December 28, 1920 (NMA digitized table)](https://www.nma.gov.in/showfile.php?lang=1&level=2&lid=1573&ls_id=1293&nma_type=0)\n6. [Indian Archaeology 1963-64 - A Review, Archaeological Survey of India](https://nmma.nic.in/nmma/NAS1/nmma_doc/IAR/Indian%20Archaeology%201963-64%20A%20Review.pdf)\n7. [A Guide to Sarnath, Archaeological Survey of India](https://ignca.gov.in/Asi_data/30296.pdf)\n8. [History, District Kushinagar, Government of Uttar Pradesh](https://kushinagar.nic.in/history/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Places and geography › Parks, protected areas, and geographic heritage sites › Archaeological sites and site complexes › Archaeological sites of East, South, and Southeast Asia › Indian mound sites*\n\n*Initially written Oct 21, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n",
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 "speakable": "Padrauna Mound: ASI centrally protected mound south of Padrauna town, Kushinagar district, Uttar Pradesh; brick-ruin mound 220x120x14 ft, protected 1920, excavated 1984-85; identified with ancient Pava/Pavapuri of the Mallas."
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